Frequency (Ranking of Contacts)

John: I want you to remember this word, okay? It's kind of like a code word: Yahoo. Can you remember that?

Learn how to find key/main contacts from a company.

You want to invite the main contact of a company to an event... but which one is it?

Question: Who is your usual interlocutor for this particular company?
Answer: Let Efficy indicate you which contacts are the most active.

Efficy automatically handles two "hidden" fields: 'Global Ranking' and 'My Ranking'. These are values computed automatically by Efficy and that compile every communication to and from every contact.

Check this help topic to learn how to display and use these fields: help - aide - hulp

Now you can immediately detect who is the main contact of a company!

Enjoy!

Cedric

The Firm (add Contact to Company)

Mitch McDeere: Anything I can do for you?
Ray McDeere: Sure. Get me outta here.
Mitch McDeere: Where to?
Ray McDeere: Anywhere I can see a whole lotta sky. I get through the days, I even eat the food. It's amazing how much you miss the sky.

Learn how the best practice when adding a Contact is to start from the Company card.

Let's say the company Shiatsu Import is your customer. You get in touch with one of their employees, Lee Liam. When searching for his card, you don't find it in the database. You'll have to add hit... Wait! Don't click ADD yet!

OK, don't panic, it's just that I want to show you the most efficient way to add a card for a Contact who's working for a Company. Sorry if I stressed you, I feel all Monica-like today ;-)

START FROM THE COMPANY CARD. That's right, that's where to create your new Contact card from. Just get the list of Contacts linked to the Company on screen, and add your new card from there:



The advantages are threefold (oh, no, now I hear Ross speaking through my mouth, what's happening to me !?!). Firstly, the new Contact card is inserted into its correct context (linked to his Company). Secondly, the phone and fax number of the Company is taken on his Contact card - that's handy. Thirdly, if the web site has been filled in (e.g. "www.shiatsu-import.com"), the domain name already figures in the Contact's e-mail field, so you just have to add the first part before the "@".



Check it out on-line: help - aide - hulp

Rachel

Think well, think help.efficy.com

Memento (memo/description zones)

Leonard Shelby: You know, I can remember so much. The feel of the world... her.
[sighs]
Leonard Shelby: She's gone. And the present is trivia, which I scribble down as fucking notes.

Learn how to use the Memo or Description zones

You will find that, beside the information that can be inputted in fields or structured into actions, documents etc., there is also a whole bunch of info out there that is not so easily reducible.

The solution for storing those notes is to use a Memo/Description zone. You will find them on all Efficy records.

Memo preview on the cards:



To view the entire memo, click the corresponding tab:



To edit a memo, click the Edit button next to the preview or at the right of the memo zone:



Or simply edit the card itself:



And in documents, actions etc.:



In memo zones, you can add a time stamp before your comment, check your spelling, apply formatting... See for example this topic: help - aide - hulp

By the way, did you know you can ask for all memo's to be in rich text from the start? Check the box Activate Memo Formatting in the Options - see help - aide - hulp

Try it out!

Rachel

Think well, think help.efficy.com

The Lost Weekend (Agenda's Schizophrenia - Part 1)

Don Birnam: What kind of party did you say that was?
Helen St. James: A cocktail party.
Don Birnam: In that case, I'll join you.

Discover the multiple faces of your Efficy Agenda

This is the first post about the Efficy Agenda.

There are many ways to display the agenda in Efficy. Discover the one that fits your needs!

Classical Agenda (Weekly - 5 days)

Classical Agenda (Weekly - 7 days)

Classical Agenda (Monthly - 5 days)

Classical Agenda (Monthly - 7 days)

One day agenda (Outlook like)

List View

Planning View

To learn more about the Agenda and its views, go to help - aide - hulp

Enjoy !

Cedric

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Change History)

Eddie Valiant: You mean you could've taken your hand out of that cuff at any time?
Roger Rabbit: No, not at any time, only when it was funny.

Learn how to know what changes have been made by whom

Never wanted to know who has badly modified one's phone number? And more importantly, what was the good phone number?

Well, just use the "Change History" feature of Efficy!

For example, consult a contact. One of the detail tabs is "History", select it.

This is one example of a Change History detail in Efficy

You can see who made a change, what kind if change it was and when it was done. Further information can be displayed by clicking the "View Detail" button.

You can directly see who did it and when it happened. And now, the magic... if you need the previous value, just browse back to the past, and find the original value.

Enjoy!

Cedric

The Skeleton Key (Shortcuts in Efficy)

Caroline Ellis: I thought the key opens everything.
Violet Devereaux: The key? What key?
Caroline Ellis: The key you gave me for the house. There is a door in the attic it doesn't work for.
Violet Devereaux: Oh, the attic, it's never opened that.

Learn what shortcuts you can use in Efficy.

Using shortcuts in a browser window is not that common. BUT Efficy is not like any other application, so try those...

Press		key while consulting a card to edit it.
Press		key while consulting a card to search another card.
Press		key while consulting a card to refresh the current card.
Press		key while clicking on a button in order to open a new window. This way you can have multiple managers opened at the same time.

Enjoy !

Cedric

Desperately Seeking Susan (tabs in search windows)

Cigarette Girl: Susan! My God, we thought you were dead.
Susan: No, just in New Jersey.

Learn how to search for an item in several Efficy modules at once.

You received a new Efficy license number... but where is it? Has it been uploaded as an e-mail, turned into a document, or an action?
Sometimes you get desperate not knowing where to seek... Efficy makes your search more serene!
The search window has different tabs - clicking a tab will automatically start the search in the corresponding module:





Tip: I activated the Actions tab by using the double arrow button behind the last tab.
Tip 2: You will notice that the colour of the Search window changes according to the tab that you have pressed, reflecting the corresponding module's background colour.

Try it out!

Rachel

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Disappearing buttons)

Zeniba: Once you do something, you never forget. Even if you can't remember.

Learn about the disappearing buttons of the detailbars.

On Efficy's cards, you can see the lists of elements linked to the card by clicking tabs in a detailbar:


But if you don't use the tab-buttons for a while, they disappear - much like in recent Windows versions. To temporarily display hidden buttons, click the double arrow behind the last tab, then choose the tab you wish to see:


You can change the option defining after how many days unused buttons will be hidden in Tools - Change my preferences. If you never want tab-buttons to disappear, you may even put a value of 999. More info? help - aide - hulp

Try it out!

Rachel

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Delegate with control)

Sly: He's right, Miss. We can do this, me and Filo. We've done banks. You know we're good at banks.
Morgana: Everyone's good at something. Even you two.

Learn how to delegate a task while keeping an eye on its progress

That's right, everyone's good at something... Look at me: I was a lousy waitress, but I'm a hell of a fashionista! That's why it is important to delegate - to pass on the knowledge, to relieve your own work load, or simply to let the right people do what they're good at.

However, it might be useful not to delegate things blindly. You would not know if the task has been carried out properly. Efficy can help you here: you can delegate a task and still keep an eye on it. Simply keep your user in the action as well, but not checked as active user:


Joey is checked as Active, he's supposed to carry out the task. I am merely following its progress. Since I'm linked to the action, I will get notifications whenever Joey modifies the task (adding comments, delaying it, checking it as done).

Moreover, from my own To Do List, I will be able to see all tasks that I have delegated-with-control to my colleagues. All I have to do is un-checking the box Active User at the top:

Try it out!

Rachel

Who's That Girl (user contact info)

Nurse #1: Okay, okay, what's your husband's name?
Nikki Finn: Louden.
Nurse #1: And his last name?
Nikki Finn: Clear.

View a user's contact info

Are you working for a large company? Or is your team growing very fast?
Sometimes you just wonder who's that user or what's his/her internal phone number...

Remember Chandler's colleague Bob from the 6th floor? The one who called Chandler "Toby"? Well, with Efficy he would have known that the Chandler guy who didn't want Bob to come and work on the 11th floor actually was his buddy Toby!

Click on the mysterious man/woman's user name (in actions for example) and watch his contact details in the pop-up window:

Try it out!

Rachel

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Tip of the Day)

The Book: According to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the best drink in the known universe is the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. It has the effect of having your brains smashed out with a slice of lemon... wrapped around a large gold brick.

Learn how to learn about Efficy ;-)

Well... this is the "Tip of the Day" about the "Tip of the Day".

Every day, a brand new tip to improve your Efficy experience. Improve your daily work by using all of Efficy's subtilities and hints for common tasks.

Don't hesitate to send us your ideas by submitting a comment on this post !

Enjoy !

Cedric

Waiting for Godot (Re-invite)

Vladimir: So there you are again.
Estragon: Am I?
Vladimir: I'm glad to see you back. I thought you were gone forever.
Estragon: Me too.

Learn how to re-invite a user to a meeting

I planned an internal meeting with the sales reps on Wednesday. Ross refused the meeting request because he will be out of the office. Since I really need him to be present, I move the meeting to Thursday, hoping for everyone to be able to attend it. But I cannot find how to re-invite Ross ?! His status is still "Refused"...

This is how to work around the problem: duplicate the original meeting (see help - aide - hulp)

This reinitializes the status of all linked users, allowing them to accept or refuse this new meeting.

Need more info about invitation status? See help - aide - hulp

Don't forget to delete your original meeting...

Try it out!

Rachel

Think well, think help.efficy.com

Help Me If You Can

Frank Abagnale, Jr.: Brenda, I don't want to lie to you anymore. All right? I'm not a doctor. I never went to medical school. I'm not a lawyer, or a Harvard graduate, or a Lutheran. Brenda, I ran away from home a year and a half ago when I was 16.
Brenda Strong: Frank? Frank? You're not a Lutheran?

Learn how to find all the available information over Efficy

All the Efficy Ressources are conveniently centralized into two main websites:
- Efficy Help Center for end-users
- Efficy Developer Network for Efficy administrators or Efficy customizers

Efficy Help Center contains all the information needed for end-users. You will find the latest online manuals, the forum, the helpdesk, the blog and all the contact information. Just use the address corresponding to your language:
- http://help.efficy.com/ (english version)
- http://aide.efficy.com/ (french version)
- http://hulp.efficy.nl/ (dutch version).

Efficy Developer Network contains all the information needed for technical users or Efficy administrators. You will find all the available online manuals, the white papers (best practices), the forum and the blog. Just use this address: http://edn.efficy.com/ (english only).

This way, all the needed information is available online, always up-to-date, and easy to access.

Enjoy !

Cedric

Multiplicity (merge duplicate records)

Doug Kinney #3: You know how when you make a copy of a copy, it's not as sharp as... well... the original.

Learn how to deal with double entries in Efficy.

A very good way to screw up your database is to keep duplicate records in it. Duplicates are cards that have been inputted twice or more. This happens when working with several colleagues on the same files (when someone doesn't check the search results properly before adding a card) or when a lot of synchronizations are running with Outlook Contacts or PDA's.

However, to run queries on your data or to send mailings, your database needs to get clean. The Merge Duplicates tool helps you detox it.

You can view the duplicates that Efficy has detected, using the Tools menu:

In the list, click the name of the doubles to select which values are to be kept in the final card:

You might find duplicates when navigating in Efficy. Therefore, you can start merging duplicates from many lists in Efficy. Simply click the menu button in front of the first card and choose Merge duplicates... then do the same for the second card:

And in search windows, there is a button available in the results window:

Try it out!

Rachel